Story+1978-12-27+Pittsburgh,+PA

“Pittsburgh! . . .”
 * 27.12.78 Pittsburgh, PA, intro to ´´Badlands´´ **

“How ya doing? . . . how’d Santa Claus treat you? (crowd cheers). . . Alright, he treated me good too....here’s a song we used to do a long time ago, this was never recorded but, uh, it’s been on some bootlegs and stuff (chuckles)....it’s a song called ´Rendezvous´....”
 * 27.12.78 Pittsburgh, PA, intro to ´´Rendezvous´´ **

“This is for all the drunks, okay? . . .”
 * 27.12.78 Pittsburgh, PA, intro to ´´Spirit In The Night´´ **

“Did they have you guys locked up in cages for a few weeks or what? (crowd cheers). . . it’s always like this? (crowd cheers)....now, this is for Tommy, this is ´Darkness on the edge of town´....”
 * 27.12.78 Pittsburgh, PA, intro to ´´Darkness On The Edge Of Town´´**

“This next song, this is another song that hasn’t been recorded yet....this is for the girls from New York City over there (chuckles). . . (?) . . . this is a song called ´Independence Day´....
 * 27.12.78 Pittsburgh, PA, intro to ´´Independence Day´´ **

(…) . . . The Big Man on the saxophone. . .”

“(?) The Promised Land. . .”
 * 27.12.78 Pittsburgh, PA, intro to ´´The Promised Land´´**

“. . . Band! (band drops down). . . This is for everybody way up top. . . you gotta prove it all night....”
 * 27.12.78 Pittsburgh, PA, intro to ´´Prove It All Night´´ -**

“I’m gonna do a little song that we haven’t done, , , (?) one other time on this tour. . . this girl sent me this letter backstage that said that she had this green parakeet and that this guy she bought it from told her that it used to be mine. . . Are you out there? . . . Anyway, I wanna just tell you that you got had because I never had no green parakeet. . . (?) clash with my canaries (chuckles). . . that’s the joke. . . Anyway, this is the song (?). . . (music starts)....me and Steve....we’ve known each other a real long time....and....we used to sit out, we used to sit out on my porch, I used to live in this town called Freehold, New Jersey....the only thing they had there was the race track (?)....there’s like, uh.....I lived on this street called South Street....and....used to live next door to a Sinclair station, the one that used to have the dinosaur on the sign (?).... anyway, we used to sit there on my front porch, it was like on this main drag, used to take you out to this highway called Highway 33 and.....every day....around five o’clock....there used to be this one girl who used to walk by my house from downtown....she was one of those girls like that you’ll look at but you’ll be afraid to go near because like you have a big nose or something, right....and me and Steve, we have two big noses (chuckles) so we’d just sit there ....on the porch....me and old big nose....your nose is bigger than mine (chuckles) oh, that’s what that means? (chuckles) oh, anyway....we used to sit there to see this girl walk by so we used to (?) these ways to catch her attention and that’s how we started playing the guitar, matter of fact, that’s how we got this band....saved up 18 bucks, I went down to the Western Auto store and said, there was this Tritone guitar sitting in the window, I said ´Mister, gimme that one, no, the cheap one up there next to the muffler,´ he said ´Ok,´ brought it down....Steve got the tambourine, came down to my house....the next day when she walked by....we had the chords down to ´Twist And Shout´ and we jump out there and we start playing and stuff, trying to catch her attention....and nothing - she didn’t even look our way....but we knew, the next day we knew that we were gonna have a tough time when we seen Clarence, who we didn’t know then, come riding by on his bicycle, with no hands, playing the saxophone. . . tryin’ to catch her eye. . . so we figured we had it bad....and we never did catch her attention (chuckles) I moved away first, remember we used to, we used to have that name we used to call her?....we never found out what her name was.....I’ll tell ´em.....
 * 27.12.78 Pittsburgh, PA, intro to ´´Pretty Flamingo´´ **

(....) Hey, Big Man....sometimes I think....I think about going back there, you know....(?) maybe she still works at the same place, maybe she walks home the same way....you know ....I figure I go back in town, you know, figure I bring my records with me. . . Oops! Excuse me, Miss, I dropped my records!´....she probably wouldn’t pay no attention....she’s probably gone anyway, Big Man....you never know....mmmm, she was so fine, Pretty Flamingo....”

“. . . Big Man. . . Miami Steve on guitar ... Roy Bittan on piano … E Street Band. . . Thanks. We’re gonna uh, we’re gonna take a 20 minute break and then were gonna come back and do another set for ya. . . we’ll see you in 20 minutes okay? . . .”
 * 27.12.78 Pittsburgh, PA, after ´´Jungleland´´**

“Everybody get what they want for Christmas or what? (crowd cheers)(chuckles) You guys are lucky. . . I’m still waiting for my _____ (sounds like ‘comb’) ... anyway, it was like....the thing is....it was around quarter to 12, it was Christmas Eve. . . last year (huge cheers) (long pause) me and Clarence....we were driving north on the New Jersey Turnpike.... and like we were both, you know, we were both (?) in each other’s faces....here it is, Christmas Eve and nobody to buy us presents, ain’t got no girlfriends, you know....so we were going on how, you know, man, that Santa Claus stuff, we’re saying ´Man, that’s a bunch of, bunch of (?)....and just as we’re saying this stuff, this guy pulls up behind us, this guy’s got his brights on so we can’t see who it is....(?) in that back fender and like we’re cruising, we’re whipping on about 67 miles an hour, right, ´Christ,´ we think, ´This guy behind us, he must be drunk already. . . kid (?) stuff on New Year’s Eve, dressed up watching television. . . so I hit the gas, we’re going on about a 100 miles an hour now....give or take 30 or 40 (chuckles) and this guy’s still right on our tail, he’s flashing his lights, man, he’s beeping, he’s doing everything at us so finally we’re getting pissed off, you know, and then we see, out on the corner we see these two cop cars, the state troopers come out, we figure they’re gonna bust him for sure....so the guy disappears....about ten minutes later he’s back behind us again, right, we’re doing about 80 and he’s right on our tail so we finally see the troopers come out and they pull us over so we’re standing there, we’re saying ´Why didn't you guys stop that guy? I was doing 80 miles an hour just (?)´ and just then we see something come shooting by us so fast, like this red flash, and all we heard was....(Roy starts playing the piano)....Big Man, here we go (Clarence: ´Ho, ho, ho´)....”
 * 27.12.78 Pittsburgh, PA, intro to ´´Santa Claus Is Coming To Town´´**

“Alright, I’ve had some requests for this song so we’re gonna do it for you....”
 * 27.12.78 Pittsburgh, PA, intro to ´´The Fever´´**

“Here’s one for the girl....who gave me a kiss....”
 * 27.12.78 Pittsburgh, PA, intro to ´´Fire´´**

“ . . . Big Man! . . . I called her up. . . She ain’t home. . . I go by her house. . . She ain’t home. . . I send her a letter. . . I get no reply. . . I wanna lay down. . . and die. . . I ride by her house. . . real late. . . I see two silhouettes. . . on the window shade. . . somebody’s arms. . . well, they’re so fine. . . (?) . . . they ain’t mine. . . no … I get mad. . . no … I get mad. . . no … I get mad. . . I GET MAD! . . . like Al Capone. . . I GET MAD! . . . like Smokin’ Joe. . . I GET MAD! . . . like Machine Gun Kelly (Max rapid fires drum hits). . . I GET MAD! . . . like … Popeye! . . . I GET MAD! . . . Sometimes, I just. . . I get so mad … (Clarence: ‘Uh-huh’). . . I just wanna … (Clarence: ‘What you do?’). . . I just wanna … (Clarence: ‘Go ahead, go ahead’). . . I just wanna … (Clarence: ‘C’mon, c’mon’). . . I just wanna … (Clarence: ‘Go ahead’). . . (band stops). . . I just wanna … (Clarence: ‘Go ahead, go ahead’). . . I just … (Clarence: ‘?’). . . I just wanna … (Clarence: ‘Do what? Do what?’). . . I just feel like I wanna … (Clarence: Do what? Do what?’). . . I just feel like I wanna … (Clarence: ‘Do what?’). . .”
 * 27.12.78 Pittsburgh, PA, ‘I GET MAD!’ in ´´She’s The One´´ **

“. . . on the piano, professor, Roy Bittan. . . on the guitar, (?), Sugar Miami Steve. . . on the bass guitar, Mr. Garry W. Tallent. . . on drums, The Mighty Max. . . on the organ, Dan Federici. . . and last but not least. . . faster than a speeding bullet. . . more powerful than a locomotive. . . able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. . is it a bird? (Crowd: ‘NO!’). . . is it a plane? (Crowd: ‘NO!’). . . is it The Big Man? (Crowd: ‘YEAH!’). . . (?) . . .”
 * 27.12.78 Pittsburgh, PA, band intros in middle of ´´Rosalita´´ **

“. . . Gotta work. . . . . . Wait a minute! . . . Got an uh, emergency announcement to make. . . bring it down a little _____ (band down). . . I just uh, spoke with the theatre manager … and he asked me … to announce that. . . if there’s anybody in the house tonight. . . that has … a weak heart … or a weak stomach … or a mother in Hackensack, New Jersey, would you please. . . for the next section of this song. . . step out into the lobby. . . as it might be dangerous to your health (crowd cheers). . . Big Man. . . Big Man. . . (?) . . . (band stops). . . (?) . . . (band up & Dance Move follows). . . . . .”
 * 27.12.78 Pittsburgh, PA, ALL of ´´The Detroit Medley´´**

“. . . (fades in right at start) . . . Somebody stop me! . . . before I hurt myself! . . . (band stops). . . (long pause). . . Are you talkin’ to me? (Crowd: ‘Yeah!’). . . Are you talkin’ to me? (Crowd: ‘Yeah!’). . . Are you talkin’ to me? (Crowd: ‘Yeah!’). . . Well, you better talk louder than that. . . . . . I’m just a prisoner. . . of ROCK AND ROLL! . . . Do you know what I mean? . . . Good. . . . . .”
 * 27.12.78 Pittsburgh, PA, ALL of ´´Quarter To Three´´ **

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi & Roulette909//